Russian sayings

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Russian sayings give an insight into many aspects of Russian history, culture, and national character. The Russian language is replete with many hundreds of proverbs (пословица /pɑˈslovitsa/) and sayings (поговоркa /pɑgɑˈvorka/). These were already tabulated by the seventeenth century, and collected and studied in the nineteenth and twentieth, with the folk-tales being an especially fertile source. Quite a few sayings are of literary origin.

[edit] Sample sayings

в тридевятом царстве /f tridiˈvˑatɑm ˈtsarstvˑə/ "in the three-ninth kingdom", a typical beginning of a fairy tale; often used ironically in a reference to a place far away.

со времён царя Гороха /ˌsɑ vrˑəmˑˈon tsaˈrˑa gɑˈroxɑ/ "since the times of Tsar Green-pea" = "since time immemorial"

ни к селу, ни к городу /ni k sˑeˈlu, ni k ˈgorɑdu/ "neither for a village nor for a city" = "of no use or relevance whatsoever"

хоть кол на голове теши /ˌхɑtˑ ˈkol na gɑlɑˈvˑe tˑeˈʃi/ "even if you whittled a spike on his head..." (said of someone ultimately stubborn or recalcitrant)

делать из мухи слона /ˈdˑelatˑ iz ˈmuхi slɑˈna/ "to make an elephant from a fly" = "to make a mountain of a mole-hill"

палить из пушки по воробьям /paˈlitˑ is ˈpuʃki pɑ vɑrɑbˑˈjam/ "to shoot with a cannon at sparrows" = "crack a nut with a sledgehammer"

бить баклуши /ˈbitˑ bakˈluʃi/ "to split wood for making wooden spoons" = "to fool (away)"

когда рак (на горе) свистнет /kɑˌgda ˈrak (na gɑˈre) ˈsvˑisnˑet/ "when the crayfish will whistle (on the mountain[top])" = "when hell freezes over" = "never"

показать, где раки зимуют /pɑkɑˈzat', gde ˈraki ziˈmujut/ "to show where the crayfishes spend winter" = "to punish; to give a piece of one's mind"

[edit] Related article

• Russian proverbs